Currently, there are a number of external absorption articles, such as feminine pads, panty liners, incontinent garments, etc., which are designed to absorb and retain a variety of body fluids. catamenial devices in particular are designed to absorb menstrual fluids, urine and other body fluids discharged from the vaginal cavity. Such devices are designed to be positioned externally of the body and adjacent to the perineum of a user.
A majority of catamenial devices are normally held in position by the use of an adhesive located on the backside of the pad which physically attaches to an adjacent undergarment. The use of pressure sensitive or hot melt adhesives have several disadvantages. First, the adhesive may stick too firmly to the undergarment and may make removal difficult. This becomes especially annoying when the user finds that the absorbent pad is not in the correct position and must be moved slightly so as to be more comfortable. A second disadvantage is that the adhesive may discolor the undergarment or leave a sticky residue on it. Neither is appreciated by the end user. A third disadvantage is that when the adhesive is too strong, it may cause the absorbent pad to be torn apart at its time of removal. Since the pad has absorbed a certain quantity of fluid, the destruction of the pad upon removing it from the undergarment may cause a mess.
Along with the above mentioned disadvantages, the cost of pressure sensitive adhesives and the peel strips necessary to cover them represent a significant portion of the cost of the overall pad. Furthermore, should the user inadvertently place the pad upside down in the undergarment, the adhesive would contact the body and may cause discomfort upon removal by causing some body hairs to be removed along with it.
An alternative to the use of adhesives is belt or strap attachments which are used to hold the absorbent article in place. However, such attachment devices have been losing interest in the marketplace because they are not discrete, especially when the user wears tight fitting clothing. In addition, they are relatively difficult to adjust and attach which discourages their use, especially among older people.
Therefore, there is a need for a product which does not rely upon an adhesive to retain it in position relative to an adjacent undergarment while still maintaining its correct position relative to its placement adjacent to the body of the user.
Several attempts to provide feminine pads and other types of absorbent products with frictional surfaces have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,490 issued to Howard Whitehead in 1975, describes the use of a polyurethane foam laminated to the baffle material. The foam provides a high friction surface which maintains the pad in place when the pad is worn with a tight undergarment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,507 issued to Whitehead et al. in 1982 teaches a sanitary napkin with a heat fusible baffle having a roughened frictional surface so that the conventional adhesive could be avoided. The baffle material is described as being thermoplastic. U.S. Ser. No. 07/134,423, filed Dec. 17, 1987, assigned to Kimberly-Clark Corporation and allowed on Dec. 15, 1988, describes an external feminine protection device with skid resistant coating for holding the device in place. The pad uses a nonadhesive coating having a high coefficient of friction which can hold the pad in place either against the user's body or to an undergarment. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,148 issued to Bo Beckestrom in 1984, a diaper is taught which incorporates a friction increasing strip fixed to the underside baffle. The strip is intended to cooperate with the briefs which are used in a known manner to hold the diaper in place. U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,211 issued to Lenaghan in 1983, teaches a catamenia bandage wherein ELCRO.RTM. material is applied to a foam outer sheath to retain the pad in place. U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,918 issued to J. E. Jofs teaches a method of making a film of plastic material with a non-slip surface having a high coefficient of friction. However, each of the above identified materials and products seem to suffer from some type of disadvantage. The most notable is that some require an adhesive spray or coating which may be difficult to apply uniformly to the product. Furthermore, tacky coatings and plastic films have not been readily accepted in the marketplace because they are viewed as being similar to adhesives or, especially in the case of plastic films, cause noise when the user walks or runs thereby discouraging their use.
Accordingly, there is a need for an absorbent article which uses a soft, nonwoven friction material to hold the article in place against an adjacent undergarment.